1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an XYZ vise which uses a spherical body as a reference body, has a reference plate and vise unit mounted on the reference body and, by use of magnetic attraction, is able to fix a workpiece at any desired angle simply and securely.
2. Description of the prior art
Vises are widely used for firmly retaining metal workpieces during various types of machining operations such as cutting and drilling. Among such vises there are known the one-directional vise which is capable of rotating the workpiece about the y-axis (allowing it to be swung right and left), the two-directional vise which can further rotate the workpiece about the x-axis (allowing it to be swung forward and backward) and the three-directional (XYZ) vise which can further rotate the workpiece about the z-axis (allowing it to be swung about the vertical axis).
In these conventional vises, however, one- and two -directional rotation is achieved by using a screw mechanism to rotate the workpiece about transverse support shafts, or three-directional rotation is achieved by using a semispherical member. As a result, conventional vises are troublesome to operate and incapable of providing high precision. They are also complicated in structure and as a consequence are costly.